Fox Calls The X-Files A 'Major Priority'
he X-Files will continue beyond its current season if Fox TV has
anything to say about it.
Sandy Grushow, the new chairman of Fox Television
Entertainment Group, told the Los Angeles Times that the seven-year-old hit
is "a major priority, and it will continue to be one until we've secured
another season."
Series creator Chris Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian
Anderson have all said they're ready to bow out at the end of the current
season. Duchovny is also suing Fox for allegedly shortchanging him on the
sale of X-Files reruns.
Sirtis Doubtful About New Trek Movie
here are no plans for another Star Trek: The Next Generation feature film, according to Next Generation star Marina Sirtis.
"We've heard nothing about another movie," she said during a recent interview in Science Fiction Weekly.
"We haven't even heard that there's going to be another movie, so as far as
we're concerned at this point in time, we're done," Sirtis explained. However, she is looking forward to her guest appearance in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Pathfinder." It's "like stepping back in time," said Sirtis, who reprises her role of Deanna Troi. "They're [shooting on] our old stages, so it was really like going home."
Sirtis and her Next Generation colleague Dwight Schultz (Lt. Barclay) appear in the pivotal episode, which airs Dec. 1 at 9 p.m. on UPN. "If you look at it in terms of Voyager history, this episode is going to be the start of them coming home," Sirtis said. "So it's kind of a landmark episode, I suppose."
Straczynski Mum About CBS Series
abylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski isn't talking about a report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he and X-Files creator Chris Carter are developing a new drama for CBS.
The news ran as one sentence in a Nov. 16 Dealer story about science fiction and fantasy TV shows and has been the cause of much speculation among SF fans ever since.
When SCI FI Wire e-mailed Straczynski about the story, he responded: "There's nothing that I can say about this at this time, but I will be able to say a little more in about a week...all I can say for now is that it is and it isn't what it seems."
Andromeda To Launch In 87 Cities
evin Sorbo's new syndicated SF series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda will be seen in 87 cities, or about 80 percent of the U.S. TV market, when it premieres next year.
The hour-long space opera, based on an idea by the late creator of Star Trek, will appear in Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland, Phoenix, Charlotte, N.C., and other major metropolitan areas, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Andromeda stars former Hercules headliner Sorbo as the last
starship captain of the System's Commonwealth, an Earth-based government that spans thousands of worlds and cultures. The show is being co-executive produced by Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry.
Jurassic Park Not Extinct?
rolific writer and director Michael Crichton said he is working on a new installment of his Jurassic Park series.
Unlike the previous two dinosaur epics, the third installment won't come
out as a book first, Crichton told CNN.com.
The sequel will go "straight to theaters," he said. "The screenplay is being written now." There was no word on a release date.
Final Destination Gets New Ending
ew Line Cinema has asked filmmakers to reshoot the ending to the supernatural thriller Final Destination, starring Devon Sawa and Ali Larter.
Director James Wong (Millennium, The X-Files) told SCI FI Wire that test audiences liked the film, just not the final scenes.
"They want us to shoot another ending," Wong said. "We'll test that and see
which one tests best, and go with that."
Final Destination, formerly called Flight 180, tells the story of a high school student whose premonition allows him and his friends to escape a plane crash. The film, which marks
Wong's directorial debut, is slated for a March 2000 release.
Warner Brings The Iron Giant Home
he critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful animated SF film The Iron Giant has a new lease on life now that Warner Bros. is pushing the movie's debut on video and DVD.
Hoping to reach the audience it missed in theaters, Warner is promoting the home version of Giant with ties to Honey Nut Cheerios, America Online, Pokemon and General Motors, according to E! Online.
The studio is shipping about 3.5 million copies of the video and DVD, which could pull in as much as $50 million. The Iron Giant sold only $23 million worth of tickets during its summer run, despite nearly universal praise from critics.
Baen Puts SF Books On The Web
aen Books has created a new Web service to offer fans of SF books the chance to read electronic versions of new releases well before the novels hit store shelves.
For $10 per month, readers can receive four complete Baen books three months before they're delivered to booksellers.
The books will be serialized in three parts, with new installments scheduled to be posted by the 20th of each month. Initial offerings include titles by Lois McMaster Bujold, David Drake, Eric Flint, Elizabeth Moon, Mercedes Lackey and David Weber.
Sony Sets Sights On Daredevil
ony Pictures Entertainment is in talks with Marvel Comics to acquire the feature film rights to Daredevil.
The announcement comes just weeks after news that Columbia Pictures picked up the movie rights to the Marvel title Dr. Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts.
If Sony and Marvel can come to terms, the studio plans to put Daredevil on a fast development track, Daily Variety reported. Sony has already fast-tracked a Spider-Man
feature film.
Daredevil follows the exploits of a blind lawyer who overcomes
his disability to become a superhero.
Fans Plan Vance Integral Edition
ans of SF writer Jack Vance are assembling all of the prolific author's works into a massive 60-volume Vance Integral Edition.
The complete, chronological collection will be available as a limited edition set through the VIE Web site for printing and mailing costs of about $1,000.
The not-for-profit project is a volunteer effort that hopes to save Vance's work from obscurity and to bring the author to the attention of mainstream readers and critics. The VIE has the support of Vance and his wife, Norma, and its creators say they need about 200 subscribers to make their effort economically feasible.
LucasArts Announces Jedi Power Battles
edi Knights will fight it out with Sith Lords in Star Wars: Episode I - Jedi Power
Battles, a new PlayStation game in development at LucasArts Entertainment.
LucasArts says Power Battles will feature high-energy arcade-style action that pits lightsaber-wielding Jedis against a host of enemies--including the infamous Darth Maul--from last summer's blockbuster movie, Star Wars: Episode I.
In the game, players will assume the identities of Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and other
members of the Jedi Council, while the battlefields will range from the planet Tatooine to the deck of a Trade Federation droid control ship. Power Battles will have 10 levels and will include both single- and multi-player combat, as well as a cooperative mode.
Power Battles is slated for a spring 2000 release.
Providence Mulls The Omega Code 2
rovidence Entertainment, the company behind the Christian-themed Omega Code, is mulling a sequel to its surprise hit about the end of the world.
The second film will feature "a bigger cast and more special effects," Providence CEO Victor
Vanden Oever told columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith.
Oever said the sequel would come out in about a year and a half. Like The Omega Code, the new film will target audiences through churches and other groups that favor non-violent, non-sexual films with spiritual themes.
Sirtis Headed For Final Conflict
tar Trek star Marina Sirtis owes her upcoming guest appearance on Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict to her friendship with Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the show's executive producer and Gene's widow.
"Ever since the show started, Majel and I had been in contact, we're
very good friends, and I had told her I'd love to be on it," Sirtis told
Science Fiction Weekly in a recent interview.
In the episode that airs the week of Dec. 6, Sirtis plays Sister Margaret, the leader of a cult whose members are "absolutely besotted" with the alien Taelons. "She discovers this kind of energy merging ceremony, or she develops it, and so she has this master plan to mingle the two species,"
Sirtis said. "But she also has a secret personal agenda that we don't know about until the end of the show. She's very weird and strange and edgy."
Charisma Eyes Film Roles
harisma Carpenter, who plays Cordelia on The WB's hit series Angel,
is looking to take on a movie role during her summer hiatus.
Carpenter's former colleagues from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan, have both appeared in several films.
"I don't think I have a choice in the matter," she told EW Online. "My agent is pretty much ordering me to do a movie this summer."
For now, Carpenter is working 14 hours a day on Angel. "I don't have a lot of time to do much except to eat, sleep, and go to work," she said.
DeVito May Have Warner's Revelations
anny DeVito is in talks with Warner Bros. to direct the supernatural
religious thriller Revelations.
It would be DeVito's first directing job since 1996's Matilda,
according to Daily Variety.
Revelations tells the story of a faithless cop who takes a bullet
for a cardinal. While he recovers from his wound and searches for the shooter, the cop experiences a religious awakening.
Episode I Strikes Back For Charity
tar Wars: Episode I will return to theaters in the United States and Canada on Dec. 3 for a one-week run that will benefit local charities, Lucasfilm announced.
Lucasfilm, distributor 20th Century Fox and local theater owners will re-release the summer blockbuster in about 350 cities.
All box-office proceeds are slated for 177 charities that were selected by theater owners, a first for revenues from a film's theatrical release. This is the second round of charitable screenings for Episode I, which originally opened in 11 cities with special showings that raised $5.3 million for various children's organizations.
Nickelodeon Sees Genius In Jimmy Neutron
ickelodeon and Steve Oedekerk, the man who brought the world Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, are partnering up to develop an animated SF series called Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show tells the story of a boy, his robot, his pals and his mission to save the world
Jimmy Neutron will first be developed as both an online game and a series of animated
shorts, followed in 2001 by a feature film and in 2002 by a full-fledged series. The show will make use of 3-D computer animation a la Toy Story, and the main character will be "part Jim Carrey, part Dennis the Menace," according to Nickelodeon film and TV president Albie Hecht.
No voice actors have been cast, but Hecht said "we have some voices we like" on the test pilot. The character and concept for Neutron were initially developed by DNA's John Davis, but Oedekerk helped flesh out Jimmy, a normal but slightly rebellious kid who will bring "adventure" and "impeccable comic timing" to Nickelodeon's lineup, according to Hecht.
Bond Heads Off Sleepy Hollow
ames Bond cut off the Headless Horseman for the top slot at movie theaters this weekend when The World Is Not Enough stirred up an estimated $37.2 million in ticket sales.
That marked the best debut of any Bond film in history and also MGM's biggest opening weekend ever, according to Variety.
Sleepy Hollow--director Tim Burton's gruesome take on Washington Irving's classic story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"--headed into second place with $30.5 million. It was the first time that two films have grossed more than $30 million in the same weekend.
Meanwhile, Pokemon: The First Movie captured third place with $13.3 million,
a sharp 57 percent drop from its opening weekend. The Bone Collector
took fourth place with an estimated $6.5 million, and Dogma was fifth
with $4.1 million.
Finally, Toy Story 2 grossed $302,000 during its opening at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood, Calif., tying the house record set by Tarzan last summer. Toy Story 2 opens in wide release on Wednesday, Nov. 24.
Dark Horse Tells Chewbacca Stories
uthor R.A. Salvatore may have killed off Chewbacca in his new Star Wars novel Vector Prime, but the hairy guy isn't being forgotten.
At least not by the people at Dark Horse Comics, who have announced a four-issue miniseries called Star Wars: Chewbacca that will retell the greatest moments in the Wookiee's life.
Fan-favorite writer Darko Macan has penned the 10 short stories that make up the four issues, while each tale will be illustrated by a different artist. The artists include Brent Anderson (Astro City), Igor Kordey (Star Wars Tales), Jan Suursema, Dave Gibbons and others. Sean Phillips (Hellblazer) painted the covers.
The story of Star Wars: Chewbacca begins in the days following the Wookiee's death, when C-3PO and R2-D2 interview Chewie's wife, Mallatobuck, and his grieving friend, Han Solo, among others. More well-known Star Wars characters will make appearances in the series, which is due to hit stores on Jan. 19, 2000.
Briefly Noted
- The November premiere of Y2K booted up NBC's best ratings for an original telefilm since Alice in Wonderland, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
- The official Web site for the role-playing adventure game Stormbringer: Elric of Melnibone has gone live. The game is based on Michael Moorcock's famous Elric book saga.
- Burger King is issuing a limited edition full-color collectible Pokemon poster to address temporary spot shortages of its promotional Pokemon toys.
- NBC simulcasted Men in Black in HDTV on Nov. 28, a first for a theatrical movie in primetime.
- The three Lord of the Rings films now in production under the direction of Peter Jackson are contractually obligated to earn no worse than a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, USA Today reported.
- WWF star The Rock will take on the role of an alien fighting champion who dukes it out with Seven-of-Nine in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager slated to air in February 2000.
- TNT has picked up the exclusive second-run rights to The Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal and plans to air the series in September 2000. In an unusual move, TNT also bought the official Psi Factor Web site.
- Pokemon: The First Movie earned a monster $32.4 million during its opening weekend in theaters.
- The SCI FI Channel and USA Network will air Galaxy Quest: 20th Anniversary Special...The Journey Continues in December. The special is a look at the fictional TV show that DreamWorks' upcoming SF comedy Galaxy Quest is supposedly based on.
- Pixar Animation Studios will include the Oscar-nominated short movie Luxo Jr. along with the release of its feature film Toy Story 2, which opens in theaters this Thanksgiving.
- The Encore Media Group has purchased the pay TV rights to Kevin Smith's religious fantasy film Dogma and will begin running the movie on The New Encore cable channel in fall 2000.
